VI
by Amor-deliria-nervosa-7491
Summary: Colleen "Lena" Reyna didn't expect herself to win the Hunger Games. She had had no faith in herself, yet when she came back, her district welcomed her back with wide arms. And yet, she decided that she had to make a list. A list of six things.
1. Chapter 1

Colleen "Lena" Reyna, Victor of the 25th Hunger Games

Her mind was focused on the painting. The 16-year old girl from District 8 was solely focused on perfecting this portrait of her boyfriend. The boy she had long admired before she had won the Games.

Aden had a solemn expression on his face as Lena painted the muscles in his arms, his chiseled jaw, and his trademark feature, bright red hair. She swept the brush back and forth, dropped it, picked up a different one, and dipped it into a blue paint and started mixing it with a grey.

"How long do I have to tense up the muscles in my face?" Aden complained. "It's hurting me." he moved his jaw around. Lena didn't hear him.

"Lena!" Aden said, snapping his fingers, and Lena out of her daze.

"Sorry," she said shyly. She wasn't much of a talker. Though she had talked a lot and become more outgoing in the Games, she had become quiet, shy Lena when she had come back home in District 8.

Aden sighed. "You thinking about…Jin-Mao?" Lena nodded. How could she not think about Jin-Mao? He had stopped Lena from dying. At first, Lena thought he wanted to credit himself for another kill, but then he started to talk to her, and told her that he had no reason to live, and that what Lena was doing was something. Then he had voluntarily jumped into the lava. Even three months after the Games, she couldn't get over the fact that a Career, a boy from District _1 _of all places, had chosen Lena to win over him. She couldn't get over it. No matter how many times Aden talked to her, whichever way her psychologist coaxed an answer out of her, she could not think of a good reason why someone she barely knew chose to save her life over their own.

Lena knew that selflessness was good for people, one of the best qualities one could have, but all she had seen or heard of Jin-Mao, people hadn't liked him that much.

Lena had splatter-painted her vast studio bright colors, but suddenly the room felt dark and small, much too small. "Let's stop talking about him," she mumbled. Aden nodded.

"I think that's enough painting for today, anyways," Aden said gently. Lena nodded, her hand clenched around the paintbrush so tightly her knuckles were white. She released the paintbrush, which promptly fell on the floor. Aden took her hand and pulled her away, out of the studio. Usually the studio was a happy place for Lena, the happiest place she could think to go when she was thinking of what happened. But lately, painting let her mind wander into the land of the 25th Hunger Games. More specifically, Jin-Mao Ziang.

As soon as they were out of Lena's studio and in the hallway, Aden looked both ways, then kissed Lena passionately. Lena was tense, but she let herself relax into Aden's lips. She had read somewhere that kissing relieved stress. Indeed, slowly, those wound up feelings in Lena melted away as she focused on Aden, how soft his full lips were, how warm he felt when she was in his embrace.

"Lena!" someone shouted. She faltered, pulling away from Aden.

"Gotta go," she mumbled, and left without saying goodbye.

It was then that she thought of Vera. Her last living ally. Codie had died for Lena in the bloodbath. Rye died trying to meet up with Lena and Vera. And Vera had died for the sake of Lena winning. It was the first time that Lena hated hearing her name. Just the sound of it on her mouth made her feel the guilt, made her stomach roll at the thought of how selfish she'd been in the Games. People had sacrificed their lives all so Lena could win. Countless people had died because of her actions or because she told them to do something.

Lena didn't enjoy being a victor.

Her mother did. Her mother was happy to have the extra money to feed Dusty, and Emmy didn't have to slave through her work to make ends meet. And best of all, she'd told Lena, Lena could work on her art.

She had everything that could possibly make her happy, and yet Lena was not happy. Even the small happiness boost she'd gotten from getting together with Aden hadn't lasted long. She still had the victory tour. She'd have to face Codie's, Vera's, Rye's and Jin-Mao's families, and the guilt would overwhelm her. Sure, she'd heard horror stories of what happened to victors who won in different ways than they should have.

President Snow hadn't come after her yet, but she was sure she would suffer. Jin-Mao had basically given himself up to her. He refused to fight Lena. But why?

It was all a mystery to Lena, who had been trying for three months, unsuccessfully, to think of a reason why a boy, a boy no less, from District 1, District 1 of all places, would give up his life, his life, of all costs, to let Lena, of all people, win the Hunger Games.

But Vera. Vera and she had been allies for a week and a half before Vera died in the explosion. She and Lena had barely spoke. Lena barely knew her, but she felt a special connection to her. And in that horrible place under the sea, that terrible room. With the lava. It had killed her instantly, just touching the lava, and then her body collapsed like a rag doll. Some of Lena's nightmares consisted of Vera's body just collapsing in the lava, then rising, all burnt and bloody, just to kill Lena.

It also reminded Lena of her selfishness.

She had confessed these feelings of selfishness to Aden, and he admitted that it could not have been her fault. The thought of one of Lena's nightmares being her dying was bad enough. _But, _Aden reminded her constantly, _you know that you're the most selfless person I know._

_In what ways?_ Lena had asked back.

_Because you're with us. Our family. You're helping to bring down the powers that be and you don't care if you're risking your life for it._ Aden had smiled at her. _You are a special person._

"Lena," said Emmy. Lena snapped to attention.

"Yes?"

"I need you to help me with doing the laundry," Lena looked at the laundry.

"Alright. But maybe we can hire someone to do housework? That way they can earn extra money." Lena shrugged thoughtfully.

Emmy didn't say anything. "I'll talk to Mom about that." she smiled at her sister.

But Lena didn't think it was anything special.

* * *

Lena was late.

It was the seventh meeting for the rebels of District 8, but Lena couldn't have sat through a longer dinner. They were meeting in an abandoned warehouse that used to serve as a holding place for clothes before they were sent off to District 6 to be transported to the Capitol. Now instead of sending it the opposite way of the Capitol, District 6 trains were coming by and making stops, because the workers were more efficient.

Nonetheless, it was huge and cobwebby, but a stable structure, and the Peacekeepers of 8 tended to be more lenient about rebellion if the rebels staged an uprising, but even so, if they were caught in a meeting, they'd be forced to arrest the perpetrators.

Ever since Lena had come back from the Capitol as a victor, she had been made second-in-command for her group. Additionally, the rebels had devised ways to go undetected throughout the city to the warehouse. People had been given a route from their homes to the warehouse, along paths that didn't cross where the Peacekeeper patrols were. But they had to go at the same time every night there was a meeting. And every night the rotation was different for the route. Aden had slipped her a note that said the number 4 on it, which meant that Lena had to take route 4 to get to the warehouse.

Now, Lena pulled out the rough map of District 8, and looked for the green lines which represented route 4 to the warehouse. Right. She'd have to go out of the Victor's Village, turn left on Hemmingway Street, then cut through the grounds near the Justice Building, sneak into the old factory and slip out the back entrance, go right on Lake Drive, then she'd be in the series of old abandoned, burned, crushed and dangerous warehouses.

When she slipped inside the warehouse, she heard nothing at first. Then she strained her ears, and heard intense whispering coming from the room next door.

She tip-toed into the room and saw a large group of people sitting in a circle. A few candles were lit.

"Lena," Aden said, sounding surprised. "What kept you?"

Lena shrugged, embarrassed. "Oh it was just my mother. She kept me a long time for dinner."

"Well, come sit," someone said sharply. Lena knew who had spoken. A new comer, named Feather, had spoken.

Feather was a young woman with straight, dark black hair and dark brown eyes. She was pretty, but she ruined it by being a sarcastic and mean person. Lena was sure Feather hated her. She wasn't sure why, but it was a gut feeling, and Lena tended to trust her gut.

"What's going on?" she said to Aden when she sat down.

"Well," he said nervously. "The Victory Tour's coming up. Obviously you won't be here to help with anything, but you can help us when you go to the Capitol by delivering a few things."

"I don't know if I'll be able to do that." Lena said, biting her lip.

"You might be. Ask Silk," Silk was Lena's mentor from the Games.

"Would she be willing? She doesn't seem like the type of person who would…" Lena said hesitantly. Feather made a sound of disgust and Lena shot her a dirty look.

"Silk helped us on her Victory Tour, and I think she'd be willing to help us again." Aden said helpfully, gently. "Don't worry. It's only a letter she needs to drop off."

"Can I see what's inside it?" Lena said. "I need to read that letter. I want to know if anything important is inside. If it falls into the wrong hands by accident…something could happen to us, and it won't be pretty, I'm guaranteeing you now."

"Well, then, I think we should just hand over this important thing to Silk herself." Feather said loudly. "If Lena doesn't think she's capable of doing a simple task—"

"Feather," Aden said loudly. Lena flinched. He barely raised his voice at all. She knew he was angry. "Lena is perfectly capable of doing this. I have faith in her."

Feather pointed a finger at him accusingly. "You're only saying that because you exchange saliva with her in your free time," Lena felt her cheeks redden.

"Shut up," she snapped at Feather. "And get out of here." Feather sneered at her. "I never want to see you again," Feather smirked.

"We'll see how well your little plan goes, then," she rose from her place on the floor and exited the warehouse.

With little left to do after the meeting, Aden concluded it, to much grumbling, mumbling, and whispers. People slipped back into the night.

Aden put his arms around Lena protectively. "I'll kill her." he murmured into her hair. Lena flinched.

"She accused you of being weak." Aden said, sounding upset. He kissed the top of Lena's head. "I'm going out after her. She's going to report us sooner or later." He left Lena in the warehouse.

Lena stepped outside and put on a black hat. She ducked her head and started to go back to her house in the Victor's Village. As she turned onto a lonely looking street not far from her old home, someone grabbed her from behind.

**A/N: So I'm back! This is the follow-up story to the Twenty Fifth Hunger Games. Leave a review with your thoughts. **


	2. Chapter 2

Lena screamed and struggled as someone covered her eyes with a black piece of cloth. She bit down on her attacker's hand hard.

"Shit," someone muttered, and they slapped Lena hard on the cheek, leaving it stinging. Lena took that moment when her mouth wasn't covered to scream.

"Who is this?" she shouted, trying to get her skinny wrists out of her captor's grasp. "Let me go!" someone laughed. It was a different voice than that of the person restraining Lena. It was colder, more high-pitched, and rough. "Feather? Just so you know, Ad—"

"I don't care what your boyfriend's doing," Feather said coldly as Lena's mouth was gagged. Lena tried to scream, but the thick cloth muffled her voice. Someone else laughed, and punched Lena in the stomach. Lena hunched over as the breath was taken out of her. Clearly Feather had been planning this.

"Un gag her, you idiot!" Feather slapped the person who was tying Lena's wrists together. "She won't be able to give us information if she can't speak," someone took the gag off Lena, and she coughed as fresh air hit her lungs. Someone pressed something hard and cold into her throat. A knife.

"If you scream, I will slit your throat, Lena," Feather hissed threateningly. "Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Does a victor have access to the Justice Building?"

"I don't know!" Lena cried desperately. She heard Feather mutter to someone, but she couldn't quite make out what she said. "Official records? What about those?"

"I really don't know!" Lena said. Feather pressed the knife harder against Lena's throat, and Lena felt her throat sting and something tickle her throat. Feather had cut her. "What do you want?" she said, choking over her words as she started to cry, hunched over still.

"I want you to do a few things," Feather spat. "I want you to go back to that warehouse Thursday night. Alone. And I swear, if you come with that god damned boyfriend of yours, I _will _kill you, and trust me, I have had practice." As Lena was wondering Feather could have done, an intense pain shot through her leg and she collapsed, screaming, onto the ground.

"Shit!" Feather screamed. "I told you not to fire the damn thing! Now the Peacekeepers are coming! Run!" That was when Lena lost consciousness.

* * *

"Lena," someone said. Vaguely, Lena wondered if she was still on the ground where Feather had dropped her.

"Lena, please answer me. It's Mom," Lena's eyes snapped open. Her mother was standing above her, a concerned look painted over her features that matched Lena's almost exactly.

"Lena, oh my goodness," Lena's mother murmured. "What happened to you?" Lena sat up.

"I-I was taking a walk around town after dinner, and someone attacked me. They…" Lena choked and suppressed a sob. "They put a knife to my throat and they were asking me stuff."

"Like what?" Lena's mother said anxiously, sitting on the edge of her daughter's bed.

"Oh," Lena said, her throat suddenly dry. "They asked me about…public records? And if I, as a victor, had access to the Justice Building." Lena's mother's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything.

"That's it?" she said. "They shot you for _that_? You answered their questions! They shot you, dammit, I'm going to get them," her mother said. Lena had almost forgotten about the bullet wound. "As for the bullet, well it didn't go in very far, so we got it out when you were unconscious and then I put some painkillers on it." Lena pulled the covers off her injured leg and stared at it. There was a white cloth covering the wound, but it was stained with red.

"We think it hit a vein," Lena's mother continued, biting her lip. "That's why it's still bleeding. You won't be able to go anywhere for a while."

"Will it heal in time for the Victory Tour?" Lena said as she put her uninjured foot on the floor. Lena's mother looked at her curiously. Whenever the Victory Tour was mentioned in the Reyna household, the sound of a slamming door could be heard. It was clear that Lena clearly didn't want to be reminded she had to see all the families of the kids she had killed, in a way.

"Since when are you so excited for _that_?"

"I'm not. But I just…have to do a few things."

"Oh." Lena had done a bad job at hiding the things that the rebels did, so she had been forced to confess to her mother what she was doing. Her mother knew what she was talking about. She was careful to avoid her eyes.

"Silk." Lena said abruptly. She had almost forgotten—she needed to talk to Silk about her Victory Tour. "I need to talk to her,"

Lena's mother looked startled. "Silk said she was going into town today to visit someone. I can leave her a message is you want." Lena shook her head.

"I need to talk to her now."

"Hey there," Lena's mother said sternly. "You need _rest_, is what you need."

"Can I at least talk to Aden?" if Lena didn't know her best friend as well as her boyfriend, then he wasn't standing outside the door, waiting until he was allowed in to see her.

Lena's mother gave a sigh. "Fine. He's been standing there for the past 2 hours." Lena grinned.

"That's Aden," she said, wearing her smile proudly as Aden took a step in and her mother shut the door. "Hi," she said. A boyish grin lit up his features.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said, giving Lena a peck on the lips. "What happened?"

"It was Feather," Lena said. "She and a bunch of other people attacked me. I think it was planned." Aden nodded, and his smile had faded just a little bit.

"What did they want?"

"I don't know. They asked about official records, and if I had access to the Justice Building." Aden flinched. "What?"

"Feather was asking that, back when she was recruited for us during the Games. She kept asking about it. I don't know either." he shook his head. "We'll just have to see."

Lena was bored. Staying in bed was the most dull thing she'd done in her life, and that was saying something. There were only a handful of things she could do, and she'd rather not be doing the one thing she was doing: thinking about the Victory Tour.

She wondered what all the other tributes' families were like, if they had any. She remembered vaguely that the girl from five—Essa?—had been living in the community home, and she knew of course that Rye was adopted.

But what were the others' families like?

And that's when she realized: they were suffering. All this time, Lena had been worrying about herself, not caring to remember what _they _were doing. They were all starving. She particularly thought of Vera's family, who likely were burying themselves in grief. They had lost Vera's sister, and now they had lost Vera. She also thought of Rye's little sister, Pepper, who was dying of cancer, if she wasn't already dead.

So much pain, loss, suffering. Lena wondered how she could help. She could sneak them food, or do something.

But first Lena had to get out of the goddamn bed.

* * *

"Ma, I'm not a child," Lena complained as her mother carried in another tray of food. Concluding that her daughter was too weak to walk, Lena's mother was carrying in trays at mealtimes for Lena. The gesture was appreciated, but Lena felt uncomfortable having a tray brought in, and she also wanted to get the hell off her ass. Clearly that wasn't happening anytime soon.

"But you're hurt," her mother snapped defensively. Lena sighed and ate a piece of the spaghetti.

"I'm not that hungry, really," Lena mumbled, trying to push the tray away.

"Would you be hungry if you were at the table?"

Lena smiled, showing her pearly whites. "Absolutely." her mother sighed.

"C'mon, then. That's it," Lena managed to stand on her feet. While she was a bit wobbly, her leg didn't hurt anymore. It was just a dull throbbing pressure now.

"Thanks, Ma," Lena said, gasping, when she reached the table. Austin had already finished dinner and was eyeing the window, as if something had caught his eye outside. Emmy was laughing and wiping Dusty's face, as he had smeared some sauce all over his face. The house still felt strangely empty.

Lena hadn't really thought of her father in a long time, which was strange, because he had been shot as a warning because he had been "talking revolution". Which was basically what Lena was doing. Not just talking it. Planning it. Which was a whole lot worse. She suddenly didn't have much of an appetite.

"What happened to being hungry?" Lena's mother said. Lena smiled at her half-heartedly, and shoved a few pieces of spaghetti in her mouth, not really tasting. She wondered if he was watching over them, guarding them. She wondered if he was the reason she was still alive. Lena's gaze drifted to Dusty. She wondered if he would be here if Lena hadn't won the Games.

So many things would be different, Lena supposed. Who knew? Maybe her father really _was _a guardian angel, watching over them, making sure Dusty had food on his plate every night.

Suddenly, Austin sucked in breath. "Ma, come to the window, quick,"

Lena's mother hurried over to the window, pulling her bathrobe tight over her chest. "What is it?" Austin pointed. She squinted out at the window, and then her eyes widened.

"Oh my goodness." she turned to face Lena. "Lena?" it was her eyes that asked the question, not her lips. She gave a minute shake of her head.

"Nothing. They tell me nothing."

"Well then who the hell is it?" Austin said, his muscles tensing, like he was ready for a fight.

"Let me see," Lena demanded, pushing Austin out of the way. He hovered protectively near her as she stared out the window. "The snow is too thick," she said. "But I think it's…"

Someone knocked on the door. Curiously, Lena wobbled her way over to the door and opened it a bit. "Oh it's just us, Lena darling," she'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Oh!" Lena said, widening the door. "Leper! What are you doing here?"

"Well, our train got delayed at the last second because of the sudden snowstorm, and we got held up, but we insisted that we'd be here _tonight_." Leper said fiercely, her blue eyes looking determined.

"For what?" Lena said dumbly.

"The Victory Tour, of course!" squeaked Polar from a corner behind her winter-white hair. Lena looked at them, dumbfounded.

"But it's three weeks away," she said dumbly.

"Well, after what happened," Quintus said, nodding at Lena's leg. "Paolo decided that we would need to make a few alterations."

"How did you find out so quickly?" Austin said curiously. He looked nervous, edging away from Leper and her pale polka-dotted skin. "Did someone call you after?"

"Silk called me," someone with a deep voice said from the doorway. Lena turned. Her stylist had changed over the course of only a few months. He had lost weight, and usually vivid green hair had darkened. The lines around his eyes had become more pronounced, the circles under his eyes darker.

"Paolo," Lena said, her eyes wide. "What happened?"

Before she could say another word, he gave a tired smile and pulled on Lena's arm to go to a different room. Wobbling slightly, Lena followed him. "Seriously, what happened?" she demanded. She had never particularly cared for Paolo. But now he was different, changed.

"Nothing has happened," Paolo lied. Lena had always had a talent for discerning lies from the truth. But she decided not to point it out. "I'm more worried about _you_, Lena. When I heard you had been attacked…" he shook his head.

Lena didn't know when her mother had gotten so honest with people she barely knew. She frowned. "But I'm alright," she mumbled. "Just a gunshot,"

Paolo gave a look of horror that Lena had become familiar with. He put the back of his hand to his forehead and sighed dramatically. "_Just _a gunshot Lena dear? My goodness, if my _mother_ was here, she'd…" Lena tuned out what Paolo was rambling, but mostly she was thankful he was okay.

Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was hiding something.

If she was going to help the resistance while on the Victory Tour, she had to find out what had taken the merry light from Paolo's eyes.

* * *

If Lena ever got home a tribute from the Games again, the thing she'd most like to tell them was to keep their mouths shut. Having been stripped off all her body hair besides the hair on her head was enough, but having it done again for the Victory Tour was…agonizing. No wonder when Silk had come inside the house there had been an amused expression on her face as Lena pranced around the house with a bathrobe on.

Silk stuck her tongue out at Lena.

Lena had to remember that Silk was only 22, a few years older than Lena. She had won the Games at only thirteen years old. Wow. District 8 had managed to have two victors in 6 years, which was quite a feat. Being the third ever victor for her district made Lena's chest swell with pride.

"Up, up!" Polar squeaked as she lifted Lena's arms from the tub they had drawn.

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Lena said tiredly, her eyes trained on the ceiling.

"Well, obviously it's going to take a long time for your bullet wound to heal, so Paolo thought we should come a bit early. It's five weeks to the Tour, you know, Lena,"

Lena shot up. "Five weeks?" she squeaked. "I thought—"

"You thought you had more time?" said Silk, who was standing in the doorway. Lena really had the urge to punch her. "Yeah, we all think that. But the time seems to fly. Funny," Silk wrinkled her nose. "Well, I think I'm going to run to the bakery and get something for Nylon to eat. Barely can choke down a glass of water these days." Silk shook her dark head, slipping out of sight. "I tell you, these days,"

After that, Lena effectively tuned out whatever Leper, Polar, and Quintus, were saying to her. She was thinking of the other tributes and their families. She wondered how they were surviving the winter, and immediately felt guilty. How was little Pepper doing? She wished she knew, but those were pieces of knowledge that Lena did not have access to.

Unless she did. The Victory Tour. All it would take was Silk slipping outside of the Justice Building or wherever they were going, a check to fund Pepper's medical treatments, and things would be okay. But then there were the other tributes to think about. Vaguely, she though of Ivy Monstel's father, who was a Gamemaker. She wondered if he had been fired from his job for killing off Gaea Vanner, who had been the Capitol's top pick for victor. She wondered how Ivy's mother was doing. And Vera's family…they had now suffered the loss of _two_ of their daughters. She couldn't imagine how hard it was on their jobs. And Maggie Falls…she had heard from Maggie herself one day in training that her family had been ripped off of a bit of money. Her family must've been in deep financial depression. And Emily Graden. People thought she had stood by and watched while her friend died, when she hadn't. It had all been a misunderstanding…

So many things Lena could do. She supposed there were other things besides helping the resistance on the victory tour.

**A/N: Hello there people! It's almost Thanksganukkuh (a combination of Thanksgiving and Chanukkuh) which I am so excited about. Eep! Also, Catching Fire. I think it's so ironic that I'm writing (almost) about another victor's tour when she's on hers. (I haven't actually seen it yet, I'm seeing it tomorrow with my mom.) So anyways, happy reading!**


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